Backlight and ambient light sensor system

ABSTRACT

Apparatuses and methods to operate a display device of an electronic device. In some embodiments, a method includes receiving a user setting of a display control parameter, and altering, based on the user setting, an effect of an ambient light sensor value (ALS) on control of the display control parameter. Also, according to embodiments of the inventions, a method of operating a display of an electronic device includes receiving a change to one of a display brightness output level and an ambient light sensor output level, and altering, according to the change, a display contrast output level. In some embodiments, a method of operating a proximity sensor of an electronic device includes receiving a light sensor output, and altering, according to the output, an on/off setting of a proximity sensor. Other apparatuses and methods and data processing systems and machine readable media are also described.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the field of electronic devices and, inparticular, to systems and methods for operating a display device of aportable device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Electronic portable and non-portable devices, such as computers and cellphones, are becoming increasingly common. Such portable devices havegrown more complex over time, incorporating many features including, forexample, MP3 player capabilities, web browsing capabilities,capabilities of personal digital assistants (PDAs) and the like.

The battery life of these portable devices, however, can be limited.Often, the primary draw of battery power is the display device for theseportable devices and, in particular, the backlight, which can be used toilluminate the display device. The display device may also be asignificant draw of power for non-portable electronic devices. Thebacklight may provide a background light or color over which text,pictures and/or images are displayed. In many current portable devices,an exemplary process 10 for illuminating the display is shown in FIG.1A. In this process, the backlight is activated (e.g. turned on togenerate light) when a user enters a key input into the electronicdevice as shown in operation 12. A timer is started at operation 14 inresponse to activating the backlight, and the electronic devicedetermines, at operation 16, whether a time out of the timer hasoccurred. If the electronic device receives a user key input atoperation 18, the timer restarts (in operation 14) and the processcontinues as described above. If the electronic device does not receivea user input while the timer is counting, the time out will occur, andthe backlight is deactivated at operation 19.

Some of these electronic devices may also include multiple sensors whichare used to detect the environment or context associated with theseelectronic devices. For example, U.S. patent application publication no.2005/0219228 describes a device which includes many sensors, including aproximity sensor and a light sensor. The outputs from the sensors areprocessed to determine a device environment or context. The light sensordetects ambient light levels and the proximity sensor detects aproximity to an object, such as a user's ear or face. In this case,there are two separate sensors which require two openings in the housingof the device. This is shown in FIG. 1B, which shows a device 20. Thedevice 20 includes a proximity sensor 22 mounted on a surface of thedevice 20 and an ambient light sensor 24 also mounted on the surface ofthe device 20. Each of these sensors is distinct from the other, andseparate openings in the surface are needed for each sensor.

SUMMARY OF THE DESCRIPTION

The various apparatuses, software and methods described herein relate tooperating a display of an apparatus which receives user input, sensesproximity and detects light, such as ambient light, and to systems, suchas data processing systems, which use software which changes displaycontrol parameters of an electronic device according to the user inputand an ambient light level.

According to some embodiments of the inventions, a method of operating adisplay device of an electronic device, includes receiving a usersetting of a display control parameter, and altering, based on the usersetting, an effect of an ambient light sensor value (ALS) on control ofthe display control parameter. Also, the setting may be a change of theuser setting and the altering may automatically be caused by the change.Moreover, the display control parameter may be the physical brightnesslevel of a backlight of a display of a portable device. In some cases,the display control parameter may be proportional to the user settingand the light sensor value. The method may additionally includedisplaying a physical brightness level of a backlight of a display of anelectronic device according to the display control parameter.

Further, according to some embodiments of the inventions, a method ofoperating a display of an electronic device may include receiving achange to a user selected brightness level of a display brightnesslevel, and altering, according to the change, an effect of an ambientlight sensor (ALS) output weight of an ambient light sensor output levelon control of the display brightness level. Also, the brightness levelmay be automatically altered for a display of a portable device, and themethod may also include receiving a plurality of ambient light sensoroutput levels from a plurality of ambient light sensors, weighting eachof the plurality of ambient light sensor outputs depending on a locationof each of the plurality of ambient light sensors on the device, andsetting the ambient light sensor output level to an aggregate of theweighted plurality of ambient light sensor outputs. It is alsoconsidered that the physical brightness level may be proportional to theambient light sensor output level times the weight, and an increase inthe user selected brightness level automatically decreases the ambientlight sensor output weight according to a linear relationship orautomatically alters the ambient light sensor output weight according toa “bell” shaped curve relationship.

Likewise, according to embodiments of the inventions, a method ofoperating a display of an electronic device includes receiving a changeto display brightness output level or an ambient light sensor outputlevel, and altering, according to the change, wherein the displaycontrast output level is based on the display brightness output leveland the ambient light sensor output level. Moreover, an increase in thedisplay brightness output level may automatically cause a decrease inthe display contrast output level, and/or an increase in the sensoroutput level may automatically cause an increase in the display contrastoutput level.

According to some embodiments of the inventions, a method of operating adisplay of an electronic device may include receiving a user input tocontrol a user interface feature level, and setting a weight of a lightsensor (ALS) output value that the user interface feature level is basedon. In some instances, the user input may be a change to a user settingand the change may automatically cause the weight to change.

Finally, in some embodiments, a method of operating a proximity sensorof an electronic device includes receiving a light sensor output, andaltering, according to the output, an on/off setting of a proximitysensor.

Other apparatuses, data processing systems, methods and machine readablemedia are also described.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is illustrated by way of example and notlimitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which likereferences indicate similar elements.

FIG. 1A is flow chart of a prior art method for responding to user inputand controlling the backlight of a display in response to the userinput;

FIG. 1B shows an example of a prior art device which includes twoseparate sensors;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a portable device in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a portable device in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a portable device in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5A is a perspective view of a portable device in a firstconfiguration (e.g. in an open configuration) in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5B is a perspective view of the portable device of FIG. 5A in asecond configuration (e.g. a closed configuration) in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a system in which embodiments of thepresent invention can be implemented;

FIG. 7A is a schematic side view of a proximity sensor in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7B is a schematic side view of an alternative proximity sensor inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7C is a flow chart which shows a method of operating a proximitysensor which is capable of detecting light from a source other than theemitter of the proximity sensor;

FIG. 7D shows an example of a proximity sensor with associated logic;

FIG. 8 is a schematic side view of a combined proximity sensor andambient light sensor in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 9A is a graph showing examples of ambient light sensor (ALS) weightranges versus user selected brightness range according to a linearrelationship;

FIG. 9B shows an example of an ALS weight range versus user selectedbrightness range according to a “bell” shaped curve relationship;

FIG. 9C shows examples of device physical brightness level ranges versusALS output level range for a “bell” shaped curve relationship betweenALS weight and user selected brightness;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a digital processing system in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments and aspects of the inventions will be described withreference to details discussed below, and the accompanying drawings willillustrate the various embodiments. The following description anddrawings are illustrative of the invention and are not to be construedas limiting the invention. Numerous specific details are described toprovide a through understanding of various embodiments of the presentinvention. However, in certain instances, well-known or conventionaldetails are not described in order to provide a concise discussion ofembodiments of the present inventions.

Some portions of the detailed descriptions which follow are presented interms of algorithms which include operations on data stored within acomputer memory. An algorithm is generally a self-consistent sequence ofoperations leading to a desired result. The operations typically requireor involve physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually,though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical ormagnetic signals capable of being stored, processed, transferred,combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenientat times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to thesesignals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers,or the like.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unlessspecifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussion,it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizingterms such as “receiving” or “altering” or “processing” or “computing”or “calculating” or “determining” or “displaying” or the like, can referto the action and processes of a data processing device or system, orsimilar electronic device, that manipulates and transforms datarepresented as physical (electronic) quantities within the system'sregisters, storage devices, and memories into other data similarlyrepresented as physical quantities within the system's memories, storagedevices, or registers or other such information storage, transmission ordisplay devices.

The present invention can relate to an apparatus for performing one ormore of the acts or operations described herein. This apparatus may bespecially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise ageneral purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by acomputer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may bestored in a machine (e.g. computer) readable storage medium, such as,but is not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, opticaldisks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs),random access memories (RAMs), flash memory, erasable programmable ROMs(EPROMs), electrically erasable programmable ROMs (EEPROMs), magnetic oroptical cards, or any type of media suitable for storing electronicinstructions, and each coupled to a bus.

A machine-readable medium includes any mechanism for storing ortransmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., acomputer). For example, a machine-readable medium includes read onlymemory (“ROM”); random access memory (“RAM”); magnetic disk storagemedia; optical storage media; flash memory devices; electrical, optical,acoustical or other form of propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves,infrared signals, digital signals, etc.); etc.

At least certain embodiments of the inventions may be part of a digitalmedia player, such as a portable music and/or video media player, whichmay include a media processing system to present the media, a storagedevice to store the media and may further include a radio frequency (RF)transceiver (e.g., an RF transceiver for a cellular telephone) coupledwith an antenna system and the media processing system. In certainembodiments, media stored on a remote storage device may be transmittedto the media player through the RF transceiver. The media may be, forexample, one or more of music or other audio, still pictures, or motionpictures.

The portable media player may include a media selection device, such asa click wheel input device on an iPod® or iPod Nano® media player fromApple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., a touch screen input device,pushbutton device, movable pointing input device or other input device.The media selection device may be used to select the media stored on thestorage device and/or the remote storage device. The portable mediaplayer may, in at least certain embodiments, include a display devicewhich is coupled to the media processing system to display titles orother indicators of media being selected through the input device andbeing presented, either through a speaker or earphone(s), or on thedisplay device, or on both display device and a speaker or earphone(s).Examples of a portable media player are described in published U.S.patent application numbers 2003/0095096 and 2004/0224638, both of whichare incorporated herein by reference.

Embodiments of the inventions described herein may be part of othertypes of data processing systems, such as, for example, entertainmentsystems or personal digital assistants (PDAs), or general purposecomputer systems, or special purpose computer systems, or an embeddeddevice within another device, or cellular telephones which do notinclude media players, or devices which combine aspects or functions ofthese devices (e.g., a media player, such as an iPod®, combined with aPDA, an entertainment system, and a cellular telephone in one portabledevice).

FIG. 2 illustrates a portable device 30 according to one embodiment ofthe invention. FIG. 2 shows a wireless device in a telephoneconfiguration having a “candy-bar” style. In FIG. 2, the wireless device30 may include various features such as a housing 32, a display device34, an input device 36 which may be an alphanumeric keypad, a speaker38, a microphone 40 and an antenna 42. The wireless device 30 also mayinclude an ambient light sensor (ALS) and/or proximity sensor 44 and anaccelerometer 46. It will be appreciated that the embodiment of FIG. 2may use more or fewer sensors and may have a different form factor fromthe form factor shown in FIG. 2. It will also be appreciated that theparticular locations of the above-described features may vary inalternative embodiments.

The display device 34 may be, for example, a liquid crystal display(LCD) which does not include the ability to accept inputs or a touchinput screen which also includes an LCD. Device 34 may be operated asdescribed herein and may include a backlight as described herein. Theinput device 36 may include, for example, buttons, switches, dials,sliders, keys or keypad, navigation pad, touch pad, touch screen, andthe like.

The ALS and/or proximity sensor 44 may describe one or more ALS sensors,proximity sensors, and/or combined proximity and ALS sensors. Sensor 44may detect location (e.g. at least one of X, Y, Z), direction of motion,speed, etc. of objects relative to the wireless device 30, and/or anambient light environment at device 30.

In addition, a processing device (not shown) is coupled to the proximitysensor(s) 44. The processing device may be used to determine thelocation of objects and/or an ambient light environment relative to theportable device 30, the ALS and/or or proximity sensor 44 based on theambient light, location and/or movement data provided by the ALS and/orproximity sensor 44. The ALS and/or proximity sensor may continuously orperiodically monitor the ambient light and/or object location. Theproximity sensor may also be able to determine the type of object it isdetecting. The ALSs described herein may be able to detect in intensity,brightness, amplitude, or level of ambient light and/or ambient visiblelight, incident upon the ALS and/or display device. FIG. 3 shows analternative portable device 30 a, which is similar to the portabledevice 30 illustrated in FIG. 2. The portable device 30 a shown in FIG.3 can differ from the portable device 30 shown in FIG. 2 in that the ALSand/or proximity sensor 44 a (FIG. 3) is located at or near themicrophone 40.

FIG. 4 shows a portable device 50 in accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention. The portable device 50 may include a housing 52, adisplay/input device 54, a speaker 56, a microphone 58 and an optionalantenna 60 (which may be visible on the exterior of the housing or maybe concealed within the housing). The portable device 50 also mayinclude an ALS and/or proximity sensor 62 and an accelerometer 64. Theportable device 50 may be a cellular telephone or a device which is anintegrated PDA and a cellular telephone or a device which is anintegrated media player and a cellular telephone or a device which isboth an entertainment system (e.g. for playing games) and a cellulartelephone, or the portable device 50 may be other types of devicesdescribed herein. In one particular embodiment, the portable device 50may include a cellular telephone and a media player and a PDA, allcontained within the housing 52. The portable device 50 may have a formfactor which is small enough that it fits within the hand of a normaladult and is light enough that it can be carried in one hand by anadult. It will be appreciated that the term “portable” means the devicecan be easily held in an adult user's hands (one or both); for example,a laptop computer and an iPod are portable devices.

In one embodiment, the display/input device 54 may include a multi-pointtouch input screen in addition to being a display, such as an LCD. Aprocessing device (not shown) may be coupled to the display/input device54. The processing device may be used to calculate proximity, ALS and/ortouches on the touch panel.

The data acquired from the ALS and/or proximity sensor 62 and thedisplay/input device 54 can be combined to gather information about theuser's location (e.g., about the ambient light environment of the user,device, and/or display) and activities as described herein. The datafrom the ALS and/or proximity sensor 62 and the display/input device 54can be used to change one or more settings of the portable device 50,such as, for example, change an illumination or backlight setting of thedisplay/input device 54.

In embodiments, the display/input device 54 occupies a large portion,substantially all of, or at least 75% of one surface (e.g. the topsurface) of the housing 52 of the portable device 50. In an alternateembodiment the display/input device can occupies less than 75% of onesurface (e.g. the top surface) of the housing 52 of the portable device50. Also, in alternative embodiments, the portable device 50 may includea display which does not have input capabilities, but the display stilloccupies a large portion of one surface of the portable device 50. Inthis case, the portable device 50 may include other types of inputdevices such as a QWERTY keyboard or other types of keyboard which slideout or swing out from a portion of the portable device 50.

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate a portable device 70 according to oneembodiment of the invention. The portable device 70 may be a cellulartelephone which includes a hinge 87 that couples a display housing 89 toa keypad housing 91. The hinge 87 allows a user to open and close thecellular telephone so that it can be placed in at least one of twodifferent configurations shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B. In one particularembodiment, the hinge 87 may rotatably couple the display housing to thekeypad housing. In particular, a user can open the cellular telephone toplace it in the open configuration shown in FIG. 5A and can close thecellular telephone to place it in the closed configuration shown in FIG.5B. The keypad housing 91 may include a keypad 95 which receives inputs(e.g. telephone number inputs or other alphanumeric inputs) from a userand a microphone 97 which receives voice input from the user. Thedisplay housing 89 may include, on its interior surface, a display 93(e.g. an LCD) and a speaker 98 and an ALS and/or proximity sensor 84; onits exterior surface, the display housing 89 may include a speaker 96, atemperature sensor 94, a display 88 (e.g. another LCD), an ambient lightsensor 92, and an ALS and/or proximity sensor 84A. Hence, in thisembodiment, the display housing 89 may include a first ALS and/orproximity sensor on its interior surface and a second ALS and/orproximity sensor on its exterior surface. The first ALS and/or proximitysensor may be used to detect an ambient light environment and/or auser's head or ear being within a certain distance of the first ALSand/or proximity sensor and to cause an illumination setting of displays93 and 88 to be changed (automatically in some cases) in response tothis detecting.

In at least certain embodiments, the portable device 70 may containcomponents which provide one or more of the functions of a wirelesscommunication device such as a cellular telephone, a media player, anentertainment system, a PDA, or other types of devices described herein.In one implementation of an embodiment, the portable device 70 may be acellular telephone integrated with a media player which plays MP3 files,such as MP3 music files.

It is also considered that and electronic device or portable devicedescribed herein, such as the devices shown in FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 5A and 5B,may have a form factor or configuration having a “candy-bar” style, a“flip-phone” style, a “sliding” form, and or a “swinging” form. Forexample, a “candy-bar” style may be described above in FIG. 2 forwireless device 30. Also, a “flip-phone” style may be described above inFIGS. 5A and 5B for device 70. A “sliding” form may describe where akeypad portion of a device slides away from another portion (e.g., theother portion including a display) of the device, such as by slidingalong guides or rails on one of the portions. A “swinging” form maydescribe where a keypad portion of a device swings sideways away (asopposed to the “flip-phone” style swinging up and down) from anotherportion (e.g., the other portion including a display) of the device,such as by swinging on a hinge attaching the portions.

Each of the devices shown in FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 5A and 5B may be a wirelesscommunication device, such as a cellular telephone, and may include aplurality of components which provide a capability for wirelesscommunication. FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of a wireless device 100 whichincludes the capability for wireless communication. The wireless device100 may be included in any one of the devices shown in FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 5Aand 5B, although alternative embodiments of those devices of FIGS. 2-5Bmay include more or fewer components than the wireless device 100.

Wireless device 100 may include an antenna system 101. Wireless device100 may also include one or more digital and/or analog radio frequency(RF) transceivers 102, coupled to the antenna system 101, to transmitand/or receive voice, digital data and/or media signals through antennasystem 101. Transceivers 102, may include on or more infrared (IR)transceivers, WHYFI transceivers, Blue Tooth™ transceivers, and/orwireless cellular transceivers.

Wireless device 100 may also include a digital processing device orsystem 103 to control the digital RF transceivers and to manage thevoice, digital data and/or media signals. Digital processing system 103may be a general purpose processing device, such as a microprocessor orcontroller for example. Digital processing system 103 may also be aspecial purpose processing device, such as an ASIC (application specificintegrated circuit), FPGA (field-programmable gate array) or DSP(digital signal processor). Digital processing system 103 may alsoinclude other devices, as are known in the art, to interface with othercomponents of wireless device 100. For example, digital processingsystem 103 may include analog-to-digital and digital-to-analogconverters to interface with other components of wireless device 100.Digital processing system 103 may include a media processing system 109,which may also include a general purpose or special purpose processingdevice to manage media, such as files of audio data.

Wireless device 100 may also include a storage device 104 (e.g.,memory), coupled to the digital processing system, to store data and/oroperating programs for the wireless device 100. Storage device 104 maybe, for example, any type of solid-state or magnetic memory device.

Wireless device 100 may also include one or more input devices 105(e.g., user interface controls, or I/O devices), coupled to the digitalprocessing system 103, to accept user inputs (e.g., telephone numbers,names, addresses, media selections, user settings, user selectedbrightness levels, etc.) Input device 105 may be, for example, one ormore of a keypad, a touchpad, a touch screen, a pointing device incombination with a display device or similar input device.

Wireless device 100 may also include at least one display device 106,coupled to the digital processing system 103, to display text, images,and/or video. Device 106 may display information such as messages,telephone call information, user settings, user selected brightnesslevels, contact information, pictures, movies and/or titles or otherindicators of media being selected via the input device 105. Displaydevice 106 may be, for example, an LCD display device. In oneembodiment, display device 106 and input device 105 may be integratedtogether in the same device (e.g., a touch screen LCD such as amulti-touch input panel which is integrated with a display device, suchas an LCD display device). Examples of a touch input panel and a displayintegrated together are shown in U.S. published application No.20060097991. The display device 106 may include a backlight 106 a toilluminate the display device 106 under certain circumstances. Device106 and/or backlight 106 a may be operated as described herein, such asto set or alter a display parameter as described herein. It will beappreciated that the wireless device 100 may include multiple displays.The descriptions above for display 106 and backlight 106 a apply toother displays described herein, including those referred to for FIGS.2-5 and 9-10.

Wireless device 100 may also include a battery 107 to supply operatingpower to components of the system including digital RF transceivers 102,digital processing system 103, storage device 104, input device 105,microphone 105A, audio transducer 108, media processing system 109,sensor(s) 110, and display device 106. Battery 107 may be, for example,a rechargeable or non-rechargeable lithium or nickel metal hydridebattery.

Wireless device 100 may also include one or more sensors 110 coupled tothe digital processing system 103. The sensor(s) 110 may include, forexample, one or more of a proximity sensor, accelerometer, touch inputpanel, ambient light sensor, ambient noise sensor, temperature sensor,gyroscope, a hinge detector, a position determination device, anorientation determination device, a motion sensor, a sound sensor, aradio frequency electromagnetic wave sensor, and other types of sensorsand combinations thereof. Based on the data acquired by the sensor(s)110, various responses may be performed (automatically in some cases) bythe digital processing system, such as, for example, activating,deactivating, changing, controlling, and/or altering the backlight 106a. Other responses that may be performed include changing a setting ofthe input device 105.

Also, in some embodiments, sensors, displays, transceivers, digitalprocessing systems, processor, processing logic, memories and/or storagedevice may include one or more integrated circuits disposed on one ormore printed circuit boards (PCB).

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate exemplary proximity sensors in accordancewith embodiments of the invention. It will be appreciated that, inalternative embodiments, other types of proximity sensors, such ascapacitive sensors or sonar-like sensors, may be used rather than theproximity sensors shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B. In FIG. 7A, the proximitysensor 120 includes an emitter 122, a detector 124, and a window 126.The emitter 122 generates light in the infrared (IR) bands, and may be,for example, a Light Emitting Diode (LED). The detector 124 isconfigured to detect changes in light intensity and may be, for example,a phototransistor. The window 126 may be formed from translucent orsemi-translucent material. In one embodiment, the window 126 is anacoustic mesh, such as, for example, a mesh typically found with amicrophone or speaker of the electronic device. In other embodiments,the window 126 may be MicroPerf, IR transparent strands wound in a mesh,or a cold mirror.

During operation, the light from the emitter 122 hits an object 128 andscatters (e.g., is reflected by the object) when the object is presentabove the window 126. The light from the emitter may be emitted insquare wave pulses which have a known frequency, thereby allowing thedetector 124 to distinguish between ambient light and light from emitter122 which is reflected by an object, such as the user's head or ear or amaterial in a user's pocket, back to the detector 124. At least aportion of the scattered light is reflected towards the detector 124.The increase in light intensity is detected by the detector 124, andthis is interpreted by a processing device or system (not shown in FIG.7A) to mean an object is present within a short distance of the detector124. If no object is present or the object is beyond a certain distancefrom the detector 124, an insufficient or smaller amount of the emittedlight is reflected back towards the detector 124, and this isinterpreted by the processing system (not shown in FIG. 7A) to mean thatan object is not present or is at a relatively large distance. In eachcase, the proximity sensor is measuring the intensity of reflected lightwhich is related to the distance between the object which reflects thelight and detector 124.

In FIG. 7B, the emitter 122 and detector 124 of the proximity sensor areangled inward towards one another to improve detection of the reflectedlight, but the proximity sensor of FIG. 7B otherwise operates in amanner similar to the proximity sensor of FIG. 7A.

A proximity sensor in one embodiment of the inventions includes theability to both sense proximity and detect electromagnetic radiation,such as ambient light, from a source other than the emitter of theproximity sensor. The use of IR light for both the emitter and thedetector of the proximity sensor may be advantageous because IR light issubstantially present in most sources of ambient light (such assunshine, incandescent lamps, LED light sources, candles, and to someextent, even fluorescent lamps). Thus, the detector can detect ambientIR light, which will generally represent, in most environments, ambientlight levels at wavelengths other than IR, and use the ambient IR lightlevel to effectively and reasonably accurately represent ambient lightlevels at wavelengths other than IR.

A method of operating a proximity sensor which includes the ability toboth sense proximity and detect light is shown in FIG. 7C and anexample, in block diagram form, of such a proximity sensor is shown inFIG. 7D. The method of FIG. 7C may use the proximity sensor shown inFIG. 7D or other proximity sensors. The method includes operation 135 inwhich electromagnetic radiation (e.g. IR light) is emitted from theemitter of the proximity sensor. The emitter may emit the radiation in aknown, predetermined pattern (e.g. a train of square wave pulses ofknown, predetermined pulse width and frequency) which allows a detectorto distinguish between ambient radiation and radiation from the emitter.In operation 137, the detector of the proximity sensor detects andmeasures light from the emitter when the detector is operating inproximity sensing mode. A processor coupled to the detector may processthe signal from the detector to identify the known predetermined patternof radiation from the emitter and to measure the amount of radiationfrom the emitter. In operation 139, the detector is used in a mode tosense radiation (e.g. ambient IR light) from a source other than theemitter; this operation may be implemented in a variety of ways. Forexample, the emitted light from the emitter may be disabled by a shutter(either a mechanical or electrical shutter) placed over the emitter orthe emitter's power source may be turned off (thereby stopping theemission of radiation from the emitter). Alternatively, known signalprocessing techniques may be used to remove the effect of the emitter'semitted light which is received at the detector in order to extract outthe light from sources other than the emitter. It will be appreciatedthat operations 135, 137 and 139 may be performed in a sequence which isdifferent than the sequence shown in FIG. 7C.

FIG. 7D shows an embodiment of a range sensing IR proximity sensor 145which includes the ability to sense and measure proximity and to detectand measure ambient light levels. The proximity sensor 145 includes anIR emitter 147 (e.g. an IR LED) and an IR detector 149. An optionalshutter (e.g. an LCD electronic shutter) may be disposed over theemitter 147. The IR emitter 147 and the IR detector 149 may be coupledto a microcontroller 151 which may control switching between proximitysensing mode and ambient light sensing mode by either closing andopening an optional shutter or by turning on and off the power to the IRemitter 147. The output from the IR detector 149 may be provided fromthe microcontroller 151 to the microprocessor 153 which determines, fromdata from the proximity sensor 145, at least one proximity value anddetermines at least one ambient light level value. In an alternativeembodiment, the microprocessor may be coupled to the IR emitter 147 andto the IR detector 149 without an intervening microcontroller, and themicroprocessor may perform the functions of the microcontroller (e.g.the microprocessor may control switching between proximity sensing modeand ambient light sensing mode). The microprocessor 153 may be coupledto other components 155, such as input (e.g. keypad) or output (e.g.display) devices or memory devices or other sensors or a wirelesstransceiver system, etc. For example, the microprocessor 153 may be themain processor of the wireless device 100 shown in FIG. 6. In thoseembodiments in which a shutter over the IR emitter is not used and IRemissions from the IR emitter 147 are received at the IR detector 149while the IR detector 149 is measuring ambient light levels, themicroprocessor 153 (or the microcontroller 151) may filter out the knownpredetermined pattern of IR light from the IR emitter 147 in order toextract a signal from the IR detector 149 representing the IR lightlevel from sources other than the IR emitter 147.

FIG. 8 is a schematic side view of a combined proximity sensor andambient light sensor in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.FIG. 8 shows combined sensor 820 including emitter 822, detector 824 andcovering 826, such as to detect the proximity of an object to the sensorand an ambient light level or intensity at the sensor. FIG. 8 also showslogic 830, such as a processor and/or processing logic for controlling,receiving, scaling, subtracting, and/or determining outputs ofcomponents of sensor 820 (e.g., emitter 822, detector 824, logic 830 andcomponents thereof) to determine proximity and/or ambient light. FIG. 8also shows fence 810, such as a fence that is antireflective ornon-transmissive for radiation of emitter 822. Fence 810 may be a fence,a wall or a barrier disposed between the emitter and the detector,extending all the way up to covering 826. Fence 810 is optional.Covering 826 may or may not be a covering similar to covering 126,emitter 822 may or may not be an emitter similar to emitter 122 asdescribed above for FIGS. 7A through 7D.

Emitter 822 is shown emitting emitted radiation 870 which may berefracted as refracted radiation 872 by covering 826. Emitter 822 may bean infrared (IR) light emitter or transmitter, and may emit IR lightmodulated at a modulation frequency. Also, radiation 870 may bereflected by object 888 as shown by reflected emitter radiation 874,which may be received by detector 824. Object 888 may be an objecthaving proximity D and an IR light reflective surface or material, andmay be an object like object 128.

FIG. 8 shows detector 824 including sensor 850, sensor 852, and filter856. Sensor 850 may be described as a sensor configured to detectelectromagnetic radiation from emitter 822, and ambient radiation 872.Sensor 852 may be a sensor as described above for sensor 850, exceptthat sensor 852 is covered with or has filter 856 disposed betweensensor 852 and radiation 870, 874, and 872. Filter 856 may be describedas a passband filter for IR light, but not passing visible light, suchas to pass IR light from incandescent bulbs and fluorescent bulb, aswell as radiation 870 and 874, but not to pass visible light fromincandescent bulbs and fluorescent bulb. Thus, sensor 852 may detectelectromagnetic radiation from radiation 870, radiation 874, and/orambient IR radiation from radiation 872, but may not receive or sensevisible light from radiation 872.

Logic 830 may modulate the emitter IR light and/or to turn the emitteron and off. The IR light from radiation 872 may be filtered out ordistinguished from the output of sensor 852 by logic 830. Distinguishingthe emitted IR from ambient IR by detecting for emitted IR during onetime period and for ambient IR during another may be described as TDM,timeslicing and multiplexing, and/or using a waveform filter. Detector824 and/or logic 830 may be used to sense proximity of the object tocombined sensor 820, and may determine a visible light intensity ofambient radiation 872.

The term “substantially” may refer to the specific value noted herein,or, in some cases, a range within 1, 2 or 5 percent of that value. Theterms “processing logic” as described herein may describe a device, aprocessor, circuitry, software, a memory, and/or a combination of any orall of the above. Similarly, the term “sensor” may include the abovedescriptions for processing logic. Also, use of the term “detect” andderivations therefrom may be similar to that described herein for use ofthe term “sense” and derivations thereof, and vice versa.

It will be appreciated that at least some of the sensors which are usedwith embodiments of the inventions may determine or provide data whichrepresents an analog value. In other words, the data represents a valuewhich can be any one of a set of possible values which can varycontinuously or substantially continuously, rather than being discretevalues which have quantum, discrete jumps from one value to the nextvalue. Further, the value represented by the data may not bepredetermined. For example, a light sensor, such as an ambient lightsensor, may determine or provide data that represents a light intensitywhich is an analog value. For other types of sensors, the datadetermined or provided by the sensor may represent an analog value.

Moreover, it can be appreciated that at least certain embodiments of thesensors described herein may provide proximity and/or ALS data (e.g.,light levels) to a processor or processing logic of an electronicdevice, a display device, a data processing device, or a data processingsystem. This may include sending proximity sensor output data (e.g., todetect a proximity of an object) and/or ALS output level or value data(e.g., to identify an ambient light environment or level of visiblelight intensity) to a software application (e.g., instructions executingon a processor). Reference to a “device”, an “electronic device”, a“portable device”, “a data processing system”, a “date processingdevice” or a “system” herein may describe a portable device (such as alap-top computer or device described for FIGS. 2-10), non-portabledevice (such as a desktop computer), or a processor or softwareapplication (e.g., instructions executed by a processor) of the devicereferred to. Thus, the software or processor can determine, based uponthe data, whether to modify a setting of the device or data processingsystem. For instance, the processor, software or processing logic maycompare the data from one or more ALS outputs to a threshold value todetermine a light value (e.g., amount of visible light). Specifically,the comparison may be used to determine when and by how much to modify(e.g., by adjusting, increasing, decreasing, turning on, turning off, orleaving status quo) at least one setting or display control parameter ofa display illuminator or device (e.g., a backlight) as described herein.For instance, the following descriptions, apply to displays andbacklights described herein.

As noted above, the display (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD))and/or backlight of the display device may represent one of the largestbattery draws or drains of a portable device and may also represent asignificant power drain for a non-portable device. In these cases, thebrighter the backlight, the more battery energy or power is consumedmaintaining the bright level of backlight. Thus, in some embodiments, itmay be beneficial to reduce the effect or amount of battery draw ordrain that the backlight of the display device has on the battery.However, it may be desired to have a bright or high contrast backlightduring periods to overcome a bright ambient light environment, or whendesired by a user to maintain the backlight brightness or high contrast.Thus, to extend battery life and reduce battery draw, it may be helpfulto only drive or use display or backlight brightness (e.g., intensity orillumination) or contrast at a maximum level or value high enough toovercome the ambient light environment at the user, device, or incidentupon the display. For example, in some cases, if the user if outdoors inthe sun, a bright or increased backlight brightness or high contrast maybe more desirable or useful (such as to see text, images, and/or videodisplayed on the display) than if the user is in a brightly lit room orsoftly lit room.

According to embodiments, a display device of the electronic device maybe “operated” by illuminating (e.g., generating, altering, ordisplaying) a backlight of the display device based on or considering auser setting and/or an ambient light sensor output. In some embodiments,based on a received user setting and/or based on data acquired by one ormore ambient light sensors, a digital processing system (e.g., anelectronic device) may (automatically in some cases) activate,deactivate, change, control, and/or alter one or more display controlparameters of a backlight, such as according to an algorithm implementedby a software application. For instance, a backlight may have various“display control parameters” such as physical brightness level, contrastlevel, gamma level, and color calibration levels. These levels may beselected, requested or set according to a user setting or level. Inaddition, these parameters may be set, altered, or controlled by sensoroutputs, which may be weighted based on or according to the user settingor selection. Specifically, an electronic device may receive a usersetting of a display control parameter and may alter, based on the usersetting, an affect of a light sensor value on control of the displaycontrol parameter. As a result, the device may set or alter (e.g., bychanging, controlling, or adjusting) the display control parameter basedon (e.g., according to, caused by, or due to) the user setting and theALS value. Moreover, the ALS value may be a weighted value, weightedbased on or according to the received user setting or selection. Theamount of weighting may be described as an ALS weight to the ALS value.The parameter may be altered automatically, such as by a device, aprocessor, and/or software. Alternatively the parameter may be alterednon-automatically, such as by receiving a user selection to cause thealteration. For instance, upon determining that an alteration is to bemade, the device, processor, and/or software may prompt the user toconfirm or select the alteration. Upon receipt of the user confirmationor selection, the alteration occurs (e.g., it is optional until userselection).

Ambient light level data may be provided by an ambient light sensor,which indicates the level of light intensity surrounding that sensor.Ambient light data may also be obtained from two or more ambient lightsensors, which are disposed at different positions on the device. Anadjustable backlight brightness may be provided by altering thebacklight brightness based on or according to the output of one or morethan one ALS on the electronic device. The number of outputs may beweighted depending on or based on the location of each sensor on thedevice. For example, one ambient light sensor may be on one side of thedevice, and another ambient light sensor may be on another side of thedevice. ALS sensor on the face of the device pointing at the user(and/or away from a display) may be given a higher weight as it or theybest represent light falling directly on the display or a cover of thedisplay. For example, see sensors 44, 44 a, 62, 84 of FIGS. 2-5Arespectively. Alternatively, sensors facing the ground may be givenlower weights, as they face away from light incident upon the display.For example, these sensors may be sensors on a surface opposite that onwhich sensors 44, 44 a, 62, 84 are mounted or disposed, of FIGS. 2-5Arespectively. Sensors not pointing at the user, away from a display, ortoward the ground may be given a weight between a weight given to asensor pointing at the user (and/or away from a display) and a sensorpointing toward the ground. For example, these sensors may be sensors ona surface sideways or perpendicular to that on which sensors 44, 44 a,62, 84 are mounted or disposed, of FIGS. 2-5A respectively. It is alsoconsidered that the definition of where a sensor is pointing may changedue to the orientation, sliding, opening, or closing of a portion of anelectronic device. For instance, in FIG. 5A (e.g., when the device isopen or on), sensor 84 may be pointing at the user, while a sensor on asurface opposite that on which sensors 84 is mounted (e.g., sensors 84Aand 92) may be pointing toward the ground. Alternatively, in FIG. 5B(e.g., when the device is closed or off), sensor 84A may be pointing atthe user, while a sensor on a surface opposite that on which sensors 84Aand 92 are mounted may be pointing toward the ground. In this case,sensor 84 is pointing towards in interior surface of the device and maynot be considered or may have a zero weight.

According to some embodiments, a backlight brightness level of a displaymay be determined according to, or by considering 1) ambient lightsensor data; 2) the percentage of overall control or weight the ambientlight sensor data has on the brightness; and 3) a user requested systembacklight level. In addition, the electronic device settings or mode mayalso have an affect on the brightness of the backlight level.

According to embodiments, the display control parameter depends on(e.g., is controlled by, is related to, considers, or is according) toboth the ALS weight and the ALS value (e.g., a multiple of the weightand value). The display control parameter may or may not be offset ordepend on (e.g., be weighted by) a constant.

FIG. 9A is a graph showing examples of ambient light sensor (ALS) weightranges versus user selected brightness range according to a linearrelationship. For instance, in some embodiments, the ALS value is onlyallowed to control a maximum percent of the display control parameter(e.g., of a physical brightness and/or contrast level). This may be aninstance where it is desired to not let the display control parameterdrop below 75%. This example can be represented by line 910 of FIG. 9A.Line 910 shows that where the user selects a brightness of 1.0 or 100%,the ALS weight is not a factor in the display control parameter, but asthe user selected brightness decreases, the weight increases up tohaving a 25% affect on altering the display control parameter. Forinstance, a display control parameter resulting from implementing line910 may be generalized as equation (a):display control parameter=K+(ALS weight×ALS value)  (a)

Here, the display control parameter is constant K plus (ALS weight timesALS value). Some cases consider that the ALS output weight may beinversely related to a range of the user selected brightness levelincrease. Moreover, this relationship may be proportional or linear(e.g., wherein a range of the ambient light sensor output weight islinearly inversely proportional to a range of the user selectedbrightness level).

Also, the ALS weight and user brightness may be each normalized (e.g.,providing an user brightness value and an ALS weight in a range between0 and 1.0). These normalized values may be based on a received usersetting, input or selected brightness level, such as shown for FIG. 9A.For instance, in the example above, according to equation (a), theconstant K is 75%, the maximum ALS weight is 25%. Thus, depending on theALS value, the display control parameter will change between 75% and100%, increasing linearly as the ALS value increases. For example, inthe brightest sunlight where the ALS value is 1.0, the parameter will be100% (e.g., in an ambient light environment of bright sunlight).Alternatively, in an ambient light environment within a dark room (e.g.,a softly lit room) where the ALS value is 0.2, the parameter will be80%. Thus, the ALS weight may be described as an affect, scaling,factor, control or adjustment of the light sensor value on the displaycontrol parameter. Notably, the display control parameter may be aphysical brightness level of a backlight of a display, and the usersetting may be a requested physical brightness level of the backlight.

Although line 910 is shown decreasing from the maximum weight percent tozero, it is considered that the line may have a greater negative slopeor be shifted down. For instance, although the weight value has amaximum along the graph axis, the minimum may be at a percent of userselected brightness less than 100%, and the line may have the same slopeas shown (thus the maximum weight value is less than shown for thatline) or may have a more negative slope (for the same maximum weightvalue). Line 910 is shown as a straight line, but it can be appreciatedthat a curved or less than linear relationship can be used in place of910, where the weight is inversely related to the user selectedbrightness level, but not in a linear relationship.

Also, in some cases, the display parameter or physical brightness levelis multiplied by a system requested backlight level, such as a levelrequested by the device, processor, or application due to factors otherthan the user setting, ALS level, and ALS weight. For example, thesystem requested level may be a device setting for the display of afully bright level (e.g., 100% brightness device setting), a dimmeddisplay level (e.g., 10% of brightness for the display setting), or anoff display level (e.g., 0% brightness device setting) requested orselected by the device, processor, or application due to an output of adifferent sensor. Specifically, a proximity sensor and/or light sensorsmay indicate that the device is closed, off, not being used, in apocket, or next to a person's face or ear. Thus, the off display levelmay be selected. Alternatively, the device may have been idle or notused for a period of time after which the dimmed display is selected. Bymultiplying the parameter of equation (a) by the 10% dimmed level, thedimming would now be an 8% backlight level. Alternatively, at the 100%level, the parameter of equation (a) would be the brightness level, andat an off display level, there would be 0% brightness regardless ofequation (a).

According to embodiments, a system requested level or device settingaffecting the backlight brightness or a display parameter may be relatedto a type of application executing on the device and/or being displayingon the display device. For example, a type of application (andrespective brightness) may include primarily textual content display(low), primarily image or picture content display (high), primarilyvideo content display (high), primarily color content display(normal/middle), and/or primarily black and white content display (low).A combination of these types is also considered, such as where therespective brightness may be an aggregate depending on the typesincluded (e.g., black and white text uses a lower brightness thanimages, video, or a color display).

Further refinements include considering adjusting how much maximumcontrol the ALS value can have on brightness. For example, line 920shows an instance where the maximum amount of control is 15%. Thus, theALS can adjust the brightness between 85% and 100%. Other than the 15%control change, the description above with respect to line 910 appliesto line 920 and a control parameter, brightness, user setting, ALS valueand ALS weight apply.

Thus, if the device receives a higher overall backlight level input orrequest from the user, the amount of control the ALS has on the finalbacklight level is decreased. Alternatively, if the device receives alower level setting or request from the user, the ALS level is givenmore control to provide the user with a backlight level only high enoughto allow the user to see the display image or text, thus conservingbattery life. In other words, as shown in FIG. 9A, a change in the usersetting or selected brightness causes a change in the ALS weight, whichalters an affect of the ALS value on controlling (e.g., altering,changing or adjusting) the display control parameter or brightness.Consequently, the application or processor may cause the display deviceto display the physical brightness level of the backlight according toor based on the display control parameter or as described above.Specifically, the backlight physical brightness will be based on theuser selected brightness level, the ambient light sensor weight, and theambient light sensor value, where a change in the user selectedbrightness level causes a change in the ambient light sensor outputweight. Thus, the brightness level may be altered based on a change inthe weight, in the ambient light sensor output level, in the userselected brightness level, and/or in a device setting for the display.

According to some embodiments, the relationship between the ALS weightand the user selected brightness may not be linear, such as for arelationship that has a higher weight between the ends of the userselectable range. For example, FIG. 9B shows an example of an ALS weightrange versus user selected brightness range according to a “bell” shapedcurve relationship. FIG. 9B shows “bell” shaped curve 930, which may bea Gaussian shaped curve, representing the altering of the ALS weightcaused by changes in the user selected brightness level. In FIG. 9B theuser selected brightness range includes low end 940, middle portion 950,and high end 960. Also, ALS weight range goes from 10% to 50%, ascompared to where the ALS weight range in FIG. 9A, for line 910, onlygoes to 25%. It can be appreciated that FIG. 9B gradually assigns lessweight as the selected brightness moves in either direction away fromcenter 50% brightness or middle portion 950. It can also be appreciatedthat while curve 930 shows a specific shape, the values selected for thelow end, middle portion, and high end may be altered, as long as themiddle portion ALS weight is greater than that at the low end and highend. For example, the values at the low end, middle portion, and highend could all be increased or decreased, or increased and decreased withrespect to each other. For example, the curve may be simply shifted upor down, or the ends of the curve may be increased or decreased whilethe middle portion stays the same, and/or the middle portion may beincreased or decreased. For example, a less or more pronounced curve maybe implanted. In addition, although curve 930 has a peak at the 50% userbrightness, it can be appreciated that the curve can be shifted to theleft or right with respect to user brightness.

According to embodiments, the backlight brightness of a display dependson, is controlled by, is related to, considers, or is according to theuser selected brightness, ALS weight and the ALS value (e.g., a multipleof the weight and value, plus the user selected brightness). Thebrightness may or may not depend on the user selected brightness times(1−ALS weight), where the weight is normalized.

The physical brightness level resulting from implementing curve 930 maybe generalized by normalizing the ALS value (e.g., providing an ALSvisible light value in a range between 0 and 1.0, such as describedabove for implementing equation (a)) as equation (b):brightness=(ALS value×ALS weight)+(user brightness×(1−ALS weight))  (b)

where the ALS weight and user brightness (e.g., user selectedbrightness) are also normalized (e.g., providing an user brightnessvalue and an ALS weight in a range between 0 and 1.0, based on areceived user setting, input or selected brightness level, such as shownin FIG. 9B). The result is the ALS value has less of an affect onbrightness as the ALS weight diminishes, at the low end and high end ofthe user selected brightness, as compared to the middle portion.

FIG. 9C shows examples of device physical brightness level ranges versusALS output level range for a “bell” shaped curve relationship betweenALS weight and user selected brightness. Specifically, for the example,of curve 930, FIG. 9C shows line 970 representing a user selectedbrightness of 1.0, such as near high end 960 of FIG. 9B. FIG. 9C alsoshows line 980 representing device brightness for the user selectedbrightness of 0.5 or half of the maximum. Also, FIG. 9C shows line 990representing a user selected brightness of 0.1 or 10% of the maximumbrightness. It can be appreciated that line 970 has the greatest devicebrightness as the user has selected the maximum brightness and variesonly by 10% corresponding to the 10% ALS weight of FIG. 9B at high end960. Similarly, line 990 has the lowest device brightness as the userhas selected the minimum brightness, and varies by only 10% according tothe ALS weight at low end 940 of FIG. 9B. However, for line 980, thedevice brightness is between line 970 and 990, but has a wide range of50% change in device brightness with ALS levels as indicated by the ALSweight at the 0.5 user brightness in FIG. 9B. In the case shown in FIGS.9B and 9C, when the user selects a very dim brightness, the change dueto ALS levels is minimal, which may provide the advantage of allowingthe user to extend the battery life by selecting a low brightness.Alternatively, for the highest user selected brightness, the change indevice brightness effect by the ALS level may also be minimal to providethe user the advantage of being able to keep the backlight bright inorder to have the maximum opportunity to view the content on thedisplayed device. Alternatively, allowing a greater change in the affector weight of the ALS value on the device brightness between the ends ofthe user selected brightness, may allow the advantage of providingextended battery by letting the device, processor, or software minimizethe brightness of the display backlight to only overcome the ambientlight environment.

The use of the term “range” may represent a range of values, weights, orlevels described herein. In some cases, the relationship between an ALSweight range and an ALS level range (or value range) may be aproportional, linear, inverse, “bell” shaped curve, and/or Gaussianshaped curved relationship between the weights and values (or levels)(e.g., see FIGS. 9A-9C).

Additional information about proximity sensors can be found in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/241,839, titled “PROXIMITY DETECTOR INHANDHELD DEVICE,” and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/240,788,titled “PROXIMITY DETECTOR IN HANDHELD DEVICE;” U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/165,958, titled “METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR REMOTELYDETECTING PRESENCE,” filed Jun. 23, 2005; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,583,676,titled “PROXIMITY/TOUCH DETECTOR AND CALIBRATION CIRCUIT,” issued Jun.24, 2003; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/600,344, filed Nov.15, 2006 titled “INTEGRATED PROXIMITY SENSOR AND LIGHT SENSOR” which areall incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

Moreover, according to embodiments, the ALS value or intensity mayrepresent the value or intensity for a plurality of ALS sensors. Forexample, the device, processor, or software application may receive anumber of ambient light sensor output levels from a number of sensors.As noted above, the number of outputs may be weighted depending on orbased on the location of each sensor on the device. For example, an ALSsensor on the face of the device pointing at the user may be given ahigher weight as it may best represent light falling directly on thedisplay or a cover of the display. Alternatively, sensors facing theground may be given lower weights, as they face away from light incidentupon the display. The multiple sensor outputs are then each multipliedby their weighting factor (e.g., scaled) and added together to representa total ambient light falling on the entire device. That total ambientlight is then normalized to come up with a number from 0 to 1, with 1representing full sunlight and 0 representing total darkness (e.g., anda lighted room between 1 and 0, with a brightly lit room above a softlyor darkly lit room). Thus, it is contemplated that the descriptionsabove with respect to an ALS light value apply to the normalized valuefor multiple ALS sensors, as described herein, such as where the ALSoutput level or value (e.g., for ambient visible light) is set to anaggregate of the weighted ALS outputs.

Also, according to some embodiments, a display contrast output level(e.g., display control parameters) can be (automatically in some cases)altered according to a change or alteration (automatically or not) of adisplay brightness output level and/or an ALS output level. For example,the contrast level may be an output level to a display and may be basedon the display brightness output level as well as on an ALS outputlevel. Thus, in some cases, a change in either or both of the displaybrightness level and the ALS output level causes a corresponding orrelated change in the contrast output level. It can be appreciated thatthe contrast output level and brightness output level are both output tothe same display, such as being components of a backlight of a display.Moreover, in some cases, an increase in the display brightness outputlevel may automatically cause a decrease in the display contrast outputlevel, such as according to a linear or non-linear inverse relationship.Also, an increase in the sensor output level may automatically cause anincrease in the display contrast output level, such as according to alinear or non-linear relationship. Thus, if the sensor output levelstays the same, and the brightness level increases, the contrast levelwill decrease. Alternatively, if the brightness level stays the same andthe output level increases, the contrast level may increase. It can alsobe appreciated that if the brightness level increases and the sensoroutput level increases, to cause an equal alteration or change in thecontrast level, the result is no change in the contrast level, as theincrease and decrease will counteract each other. Finally, it can beappreciated that descriptions above with respect to the displaybrightness output level and ALS output level being received by a device,processor, or software apply to the discussion with respect to thecontrast output level embodiment. Similarly, the discussions herein withrespect to a machine accessible medium, and instructions executed on amachine or processor apply to the contrast output level embodimentabove. Also, the display output level (e.g., change), ALS output level(e.g., change), and/or display contrast output level (e.g., change) maybe stored in a memory or storage device. Finally, it can be appreciatedthat the prior discussions with respect to a brightness level (anddisplay parameter), and ALS level or value apply to the displaybrightness output level and ambient light sensor output level describedabove for the contrast output level embodiment.

According to embodiments, the concepts above for receiving a usersetting of a display control parameter, and altering, (automatically insome cases) based on the user setting, an effect of an ALS on control ofthe display control parameter apply to portable and non-portabledevices. Thus, in some case, a parameter of a backlight for a portabledevice (such as a cell phone, MP-3 player, or lap-top computer) may bealtered depending on an ambient light setting that the device is movedinto (e.g., from indoor to outdoor light, and vice versa).Alternatively, in some cases, a parameter of a backlight for anon-portable device (such as a desktop computer) may be altereddepending on an ambient light setting that changes at the device (e.g.,by turning on, turning off, or adjusting (such as using a dimmer switch)a level of indoor lighting in the room the device is in).

According to some embodiments, the ALS output value received from one ormore sensors may be used to operate a proximity sensor of an electronicdevice by (automatically in some cases) setting, altering or changing anon/off setting or status of a proximity sensor. The setting or changingmay be to set or alter a setting of a proximity sensor to power up, turnon, power down, turn off, such according to an output level or change inlevel of an ALS. In some cases, when a change to a light sensor outputlevel (e.g., a change in ambient light level) that exceeds a thresholdlimit, the proximity sensor powers up, turns on, powers down, or turnsoff. The change in the output level can be a rate of change of anambient light level and an amount of change of an ambient light levelthat exceeds a threshold. For example, the change may be a rapid (e.g.,over a short period of time) or drastic (e.g., over a wide range oflevels) change in the visible light or IR light as determined by one ormore ALS sensors, as described herein. For multiple sensors, the sensoroutputs may be multiplied or weighted as described herein. Moreover, theALS sensor output may be compared to a rate of change or amount ofchange threshold to cause the proximity sensor to power up.

Thus, the ALS sensor output may be received by an electronic device,processor, or software application as described herein which causespowering up or turning on of the proximity sensor in response to the ALSlevel exceeding the threshold. It can be appreciated that this processallows for conservation or reduction of use of power or battery energyconsumed by the proximity sensor (e.g., such as by the IR emitter,sensor, and processing logic).

Also, in some cases, the ALS sensor output may be used in connectionwith other sensor outputs, such as accelerometer output, a “lock” button(e.g., to hold a setting of a device), and “on” button to turn on anelectronic device. The concepts described above with respect to turningon a proximity sensor apply here as well, such as to conserver or reducepower or battery consumption by only turning on the device if, inaddition to another sensor output, a threshold is exceeded by the ALSsensor output. It can be appreciated that this reduces occurrences orpossibilities of an inadvertent “bump”, “lock” button, “on” buttonpressure from turning on the device and consuming battery power when notintended by the user.

FIG. 10 shows another example of a device according to an embodiment ofthe inventions. This device may include a processor, such asmicroprocessor 402, and a memory 404 (e.g., a storage device), which arecoupled to each other through a bus 406. The device 400 may optionallyinclude a cache 408 which is coupled to the microprocessor 402. Thisdevice may also optionally include a display controller and displaydevice 410 which is coupled to the other components through the bus 406.One or more input/output controllers 412 are also coupled to the bus 406to provide an interface for input/output devices 414 (e.g., userinterface controls or input devices) and to provide an interface for oneor more sensors 416 which are for sensing user activity. The bus 406 mayinclude one or more buses connected to each other through variousbridges, controllers, and/or adapters as is well known in the art. Theinput/output devices 414 may include a keypad or keyboard or a cursorcontrol device such as a touch input panel. Furthermore, theinput/output devices 414 may include a network interface which is eitherfor a wired network or a wireless network (e.g. an RF transceiver). Thesensors 416 may be any one of the sensors described herein including,for example, a proximity sensor or an ambient light sensor. In at leastcertain implementations of the device 400, the microprocessor 402 mayreceive data from one or more sensors 416 and may perform the analysisof that data in the manner described herein. For example, the data maybe analyzed through an artificial intelligence process or in the otherways described herein. As a result of that analysis, the microprocessor402 may then (automatically in some cases) cause an adjustment in one ormore settings of the device.

According to embodiments, a “user setting” may be a brightness orcontrast level, setting, or selection received (e.g., requested) fromthe user by a device, processor, or software application. As such, theuser setting may describe data relating to touches received by a touchinput panel, data received from an input device, and/or data receivedfrom a user interface of an electronic device. In some cases the usersetting may be a user selected brightness level, such as to select abrightness level in a range of user brightness level settings.

Also, according to embodiments, the output of the light sensor may be avalue or level of ambient light (e.g., visible ambient light) sent bythe sensor and received by a device, processor, or software application.For example, the light sensor “value” may be an ALS level, or output,such as a reading, electrical signal level or amplitude output by an ALSbased on a level or intensity of ambient light received by or incidentupon the ALS.

Next, “control” of a display control parameter may describe setting,changing, effecting, determining, altering, or adjusting the parameteror level of the parameter.

Moreover, use of the term “weight”, “weighted” or “weighting” herein maydescribe using a weight value or scalar stored in a memory, logic,processing logic, register, or software to multiply, increase, ordecrease the amplitude or intensity of a signal or value (e.g., such asa detected or sensed intensity or amplitude). The weighted value may bedescribed as a value that is scaled, multiplied, driven, increased,amplified, or attenuated by the weight. In some cases, weighting maydescribe using software to apply a “gain” to an output of a sensor orphotodiode.

Also, the term “automatically” may describe a cause and effectrelationship, such as where something is altered, changed, or setwithout receiving a user input or action directed at the altered orchanged result. For example, a setting, input or selection received froma user for something other than a display control parameter orbrightness level, may also cause an additional change in the parameteror level (e.g., automatically) as a result of altering the other thing.In some cases, “automatically” may describe a result that is a secondaryresult or in addition to a primary result according to a received usersetting or selection. For instance, a setting, input or selection to adisplay control parameter or brightness level received from a user maynot only cause a change in that parameter or level (e.g., according tothe user setting, input or selection criteria for the parameter orlevel), but may also cause an additional change in that parameter orlevel as a result of altering (e.g., automatically) another weight orvalue that affects the parameter or level.

According to some embodiments, the concepts described above (e.g., forFIGS. 9A-9C) may be implemented using a machine accessible mediumcontaining instructions (e.g., such as storage device 104, memory 404,or executable program/software instructions stored thereon) that, whenexecuted, cause a machine or processor (e.g., such as digital processingsystem 103, microprocessor 153, or processor 402) to perform (e.g.,automatically or not) one or more actions. The actions may include thereceiving, altering, controlling, generating, displaying, relating,processing, processes, and/or other actions, described herein, such asto operate a data processing system, portable device, electronic device,display, display control parameter, backlight control parameter,backlight brightness, or backlight contrast as described herein.

Also, a user setting, selection, selected brightness level or input maydescribe a change in the setting, selection, level or input, such as onethat (automatically in some cases) alters an ALS output weight, displaycontrol parameter, or display brightness level according to that change.In this case, setting the weight may or may not include changing acurrent setting of the weight of the ALS output value. In some cases,such user selection may be a user input to control a user interfacefeature value, and a weight of an ALS output value that the userinterface feature level is based on may be automatically set or adjustedas a result of, depending on, or due to the user input.

Finally, it can be appreciated that the user setting, display controlparameter, light sensor value, light sensor output level (e.g., value),user selected brightness level, display brightness level, ALS outputweight, ALS output level, device setting and/or system requested leveldescribed herein may be stored in a machine accessible medium, such as amemory or data storage device (e.g., device 104, memory 404, system 103,processor 153, processor 402, and the like). In some cases, the storedvalues, selections, or levels, etc. noted above may be accessed by adevice or processor to determine or calculate a display controlparameter or brightness level (e.g., displayed by a backlight of adisplay).

In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described withreference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will be evidentthat various modifications may be made thereto without departing fromthe broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in thefollowing claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to beregarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.

1. A method of operating a display device of an electronic device, themethod comprising: receiving a user setting of a display controlparameter; altering, based on the user setting, a weight applied to anambient light sensor value (ALS) on control of the display controlparameter, wherein the altering of the weight is performed within apossible range of values determined by a relationship between the weightand the user setting, and wherein a physical brightness level of thedisplay device is increasingly proportional to the ambient light sensorvalue times the weight and the physical brightness level is determinedfrom the user setting.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the user settingis a change of the user setting and the altering is automatically causedby the change.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the display controlparameter is the physical brightness level of a backlight of a displayof a portable device.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the displaycontrol parameter is proportional to the user setting and the lightsensor value.
 5. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying aphysical brightness level of a backlight of a display of an electronicdevice according to the display control parameter.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the display control parameter is a physical brightnesslevel of a backlight of a display, and wherein the weighting causes theALS value to have less of an effect on brightness at a low end and at ahigh end of a range of the user selected brightness as compared to amiddle of the range of the user selected brightness.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the display control parameter is for a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD), the ALS is a feedback sensor to the LCD, the brightnesslevel of the LCD is altered in order to compensate for the ambient lightsensor value and therefore keep the same contrast resulting from theuser setting; and a change in the user setting causes a new weight to beapplied to the ALS value, wherein the new weight is lower at ends, andhigher in a middle of the user setting.
 8. A machine readable tangiblemedium storing executable program instructions which when executed causea method of operating a data processing system, the method comprising:receiving a user setting of a display control parameter; altering, basedon the user setting, a weight applied to an ambient light sensor (ALS)value on control of the display control parameter, wherein the alteringof the weight is performed within a possible range of values determinedby a relationship between the weight and the user setting, and wherein aphysical brightness level of a display device is increasinglyproportional to the ambient light sensor value times the weight and thephysical brightness level is determined from the user setting.
 9. Themedium of claim 8 wherein the user setting is a change of the usersetting and the altering is automatically caused by the change.
 10. Themedium of claim 8 wherein the display control parameter is the physicalbrightness level of a backlight of a display of a portable device. 11.The medium of claim 8 wherein the display control parameter isproportional to the user setting and the light sensor value.
 12. Themedium of claim 8, the method further comprising displaying a physicalbrightness level of a backlight of a display of an electronic deviceaccording to the display control parameter.
 13. A data processing devicecomprising: a means for receiving a user setting of a display controlparameter; a means for altering, based on the user setting, a weightapplied to an ambient light sensor (ALS) value on control of the displaycontrol parameter, wherein the altering of the weight is performedwithin a possible range of values determined by a relationship betweenthe weight and the user setting, and wherein a physical brightness levelof a display device is increasingly proportional to the ambient lightsensor value times the weight and the physical brightness level isdetermined from the user setting.
 14. A method of operating a displaydevice of an electronic device, the method comprising: receiving achange to a user selected brightness level of a display brightnesslevel; altering, according to the change, an effect of an ambient lightsensor (ALS) output weight of an ambient light sensor output level oncontrol of the display brightness level, wherein the altering of theeffect is performed within a possible range of values determined by arelationship between the weight and the user selected brightness level,and wherein a physical brightness level of the display device isincreasingly proportional to the ambient light sensor value times theweight and the physical brightness level is determined from the change.15. The method of claim 14 further comprising automatically altering thebrightness level based on the change and the altered weight.
 16. Themethod of claim 15 further comprising altering the brightness levelbased on a change in the ambient light sensor output level.
 17. Themethod of claim 15 wherein the brightness level is for a display of aportable device; and further comprising: altering the brightness levelbased on a change in a device setting for the display.
 18. The method ofclaim 17 wherein the device setting comprises one of a fully brightdisplay level, a dimmed display level, and an off display levelrequested by the device.
 19. The method of claim 17 wherein the devicesetting is related to a type of application executing on the device, andthe type of application comprises one of a primarily textual contentdisplaying application, a primarily image content displayingapplication, a primarily video content displaying application, aprimarily color content displaying application, and a primarily blackand white content displaying application.
 20. The method of claim 14further comprising displaying the display brightness level on a displayof a portable device.
 21. The method of claim 14 wherein the brightnesslevel is for a display of a portable device; and further comprising:receiving a plurality of ambient light sensor output levels from aplurality of ambient light sensors; weighting each of the plurality ofambient light sensor outputs depending on a location of each of theplurality of ambient light sensors on the device; setting the ambientlight sensor output level to an aggregate of the weighted plurality ofambient light sensor outputs.
 22. The method of claim 14 wherein theuser selected brightness level, the weight, and the ambient light sensoroutput level are each normalized.
 23. The method of claim 22 wherein anincrease in the user selected brightness level automatically decreasesthe ambient light sensor output weight according to a linearrelationship.
 24. A method of operating a display device of anelectronic device, the method comprising: receiving a user input tocontrol a user interface feature level; setting a weight of an ambientlight sensor (ALS) output value that is configured to cause anadjustment of the user interface feature level, wherein the setting ofthe weight is performed within a possible range of values determined bya relationship between the weight and the user interface feature level,and wherein a physical brightness level of the display device isincreasingly proportional to the ambient light sensor value times theweight and the physical brightness level is determined from the userinput.
 25. The method of claim 24 wherein the user input is a change toa user setting and the change automatically causes the weight to change.26. The method of claim 24 wherein user interface feature level isphysical brightness level of a display of a portable device.
 27. Amethod of operating a display device of an electronic device, the methodcomprising: receiving a user input to control a user interface featurelevel; generating a weight applied to a display control parameter basedon an ambient light sensor (ALS) output value and the user input,wherein the generating of the weight is performed within a possiblerange of values determined by a relationship between the weight and theuser interface feature level, and wherein a physical brightness level ofthe display device is increasingly proportional to the ambient lightsensor value times the weight and the physical brightness level isdetermined from the user input.
 28. The method of claim 27 wherein thedisplay control parameter comprises a backlight brightness level of aportable device and wherein the user input is capable of being a valuewithin a range of values.
 29. The method of claim 27 wherein the displaycontrol parameter comprises a backlight contrast level of a portabledevice and wherein the user input is capable of being a value within arange of values.
 30. The method of claim 27 wherein the display controlparameter comprises a weight of an ambient light sensor output level oncontrol of a backlight brightness level of a portable device and whereinthe user input is capable of being a value within a range of values. 31.A method of operating an electronic device, the method comprising:receiving an ambient light sensor (ALS) output; controlling a weightapplied to a device setting of an electronic device in response to theALS output and a user setting, wherein the controlling of the weight isperformed within a possible range of values determined by a relationshipbetween the weight and the user setting, and wherein a physicalbrightness level of a display device is increasingly proportional to theambient light sensor value times the weight and the physical brightnesslevel is determined from the user setting.
 32. The method of claim 31wherein the device setting comprises a display parameter and the usersetting comprises a user setting of the display parameter and whereinthe user setting is capable of being a value within a range of values.33. The method of claim 31 wherein the device setting comprises one of abacklight brightness level of a portable device, a backlight contrastlevel of a portable device, and an effect of an ambient light sensorvalue (ALS) on control of a backlight brightness level of a portabledevice.
 34. A machine readable tangible medium storing executableprogram instructions which when executed cause a method of operating adata processing system, the method comprising: receiving a user input tocontrol a user interface feature level; generating a weight applied to adisplay control parameter based on an ambient light sensor (ALS) outputvalue and the user input, wherein the altering of the weight isperformed within a possible range of values determined by a relationshipbetween the weight and the user input, and wherein a physical brightnesslevel of a display device is increasingly proportional to the ambientlight sensor value times the weight and the physical brightness level isdetermined from the user input.
 35. The medium of claim 34 wherein thedisplay control parameter comprises one of a backlight brightness levelof a portable device, a backlight contrast level of a portable device,and a weight of an ambient light sensor output level on control of abacklight brightness level of a portable device.
 36. A machine readabletangible medium storing executable program instructions which whenexecuted cause a method of operating a data processing system, themethod comprising: receiving an ambient light sensor (ALS) output;controlling a weight applied to a device setting of an electronic devicein response to the ALS output and a user setting, wherein thecontrolling of the weight is performed within a possible range of valuesdetermined by a relationship between the weight and the user setting,and wherein a physical brightness level of a display device isincreasingly proportional to the ambient light sensor value times theweight and the physical brightness level is determined from the usersetting.
 37. The medium of claim 36 wherein the device setting comprisesa display parameter and the user setting comprises a user setting of thedisplay parameter and wherein the user input is capable of being a valuewithin a range of values.
 38. The medium of claim 36 wherein the devicesetting comprises one of a backlight brightness level of a portabledevice, a backlight contrast level of a portable device, and an effectof an ambient light sensor value (ALS) on control of a backlightbrightness level of a portable device.